Re: New Jimi Hendrix album with unreleased songs coming in March

I have the bootleg CD Talent and feeling vol 2 with Cherokee Mist on it. The BSOTS version is so much cleaner and with actual stereo separation. The guitar and sitar are distinguishable from each other with their distinct tonal character. It was a giant lump of sound on the bootleg.

Re: New Jimi Hendrix album with unreleased songs coming in March

Didn't get to read what everyone else felt, overall I guess it's pretty underwhelming but does have a few bright spots. However this would strictly be for completists or people who are hardcore Jimi collectors and fairly insulting to his legacy to present this in the manner it seems to be aimed, which is obviously towards the general public.

From a historical perspective it's always a welcome thing to be treated to stuff we've only heard in very poor quality, but beyond this aspect there really doesn't seem to be much here to get excited over. One thing it's made me do is go back to some of the older posthumous material, in the light of these recent 'scraping-the-bottom-of-the-barrel' selections there is no question that -even if they were controversial and many fans disagreed with how they were made- it actually makes a few of the Alan Douglas reworks feel reasonably listenable.

So as I am pondering all of this, it's got me to think that for some reason in fact there are truly few studio songs which Jimi didn't have his hand in while he was alive that ever sounded good. "Pali Gap" is OK, and some of the "Rainbow Bridge" as well as "Cry Of Love" tracks sound reasonably legit/acceptable. This leads me to realize that Jimi's role in the studio (rather than strictly as a musician and composer) was truly discounted. Not to say anything negative about Eddie Kramer's contributions (or whoever else worked on some of these).

However, while they're technically competent and accurate presentations of whatever unfinished session tapes were left behind, they feel sort of a bit 'lifeless' and lacking dynamic progression; the crux of the matter is that beyond musical archeology we can't expect miracles unless someone of Hendrix's caliber would take these work tapes and turn them into finished masters with the same amount of bold talent, psychedelic flair and insightful creativity that Jimi seemed to ooze at every waking moment.

It's great to hear all of these leftovers being lavished tons of money, resources, time and effort to be presented like this. However it only serves to highlight that 50 years after the fact, no one has been able to take the torch and continue the relay.
We all still seem stuck in shock sometimes around October 1970.

More than ever, this makes me feel a sort of emptiness, the realization that there currently isn't anyone else who appears capable of "taking us to Jupiter's Sulfur Mines".... What this also indicates, if anything is that it really is time for such a person to step up and dazzle us with new ideas, new fantasies turned into songs, and carry on further into this path rather than being stuck on the dead-end-street I feel we're currently in.

I would think that Jimi would very much be honored, but also somewhat amused and chuckle a bit at the current state of things.

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Re: New Jimi Hendrix album with unreleased songs coming in March

On "25 Dollars" are there two guitars, Hendrix and Stills? Is there any overdubbed Jimi guitar or just one track in the left channel? To my ears, what little lead guitar there is doesn't sound like Jimi.

Re: New Jimi Hendrix album with unreleased songs coming in March

Wow, that "Red House" sounds kind of rough doesn't it? How do you mess up that song? Right from the beginning when the intro abruptly jumps to the first bar of the progression instead of the !V. They kind of get it together for the second verse - but there are just too many guitars in that band. Three guitars and they still can't even approximate what Jimi did with just one.

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Re: New Jimi Hendrix album with unreleased songs coming in March

Originally Posted by Roland Stone

Wow, that "Red House" sounds kind of rough doesn't it? How do you mess up that song? Right from the beginning when the intro abruptly jumps to the first bar of the progression instead of the !V. They kind of get it together for the second verse - but there are just too many guitars in that band. Three guitars and they still can't even approximate what Jimi did with just one.

lol....yeah...it's kind of a mess....2 slide guitars, lead and a rhythm guitar....all playing at the same time....kind of takes away from the simplicity that actually was the blues.

Re: New Jimi Hendrix album with unreleased songs coming in March

Originally Posted by Roland Stone

On "25 Dollars" are there two guitars, Hendrix and Stills? Is there any overdubbed Jimi guitar or just one track in the left channel? To my ears, what little lead guitar there is doesn't sound like Jimi.

Liner notes state Jimi overdubbed a guitar. Stills is on organ. So both the distorted rhythm guitar and the lead licks are Jimi. I do think it sounds like Jimi, but he's playing very conservatively, perhaps careful to not showboat all over the song. He showed similar restraint on Old Times, Good Times, the first released Stills/Jimi tune.

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Re: New Jimi Hendrix album with unreleased songs coming in March

Originally Posted by Roland Stone

Wow, that "Red House" sounds kind of rough doesn't it? How do you mess up that song? Right from the beginning when the intro abruptly jumps to the first bar of the progression instead of the !V. They kind of get it together for the second verse - but there are just too many guitars in that band. Three guitars and they still can't even approximate what Jimi did with just one.

Really surprised that Billy did all the singing instead of Buddy. Billy sings good, that put a smile on my face! But, yeah, it was pretty ragged, Buddy is usually much better, maybe age is finally catching up to him

Re: New Jimi Hendrix album with unreleased songs coming in March

lol....yeah...it's kind of a mess....2 slide guitars, lead and a rhythm guitar....all playing at the same time....kind of takes away from the simplicity that actually was the blues.

It's cool to see Billy with Buddy Guy, however I've learned Buddy trots out two kinds of tour these days. One where he brings Quinn Sullivan with him as the "wunderkind" and loads up the state with guitarists and then one where it's just him and a band (these are usually in a smaller venue as well). This happened here locally last time he toured. He played Red Rocks Amphitheater (seats about 9,000) with Quinn Sullivan and George Thorogood (opener) and then he came back around with a stripped down band and played a 1,500 seater. I don't have a doubt in my mind that the latter was better (I attended the 1500 seater show). In the smaller venue there was only one guitarist (Buddy) and he even played some acoustic numbers. The larger shows tend to be more like blues-rock shred fests. I love buddy but agree it actually takes away from the blues. I personally find those kind of overdone, showboaty shoes to be a drag.